IRASBURG, Vt. — Pete the Moose munched on apples, bananas and a Snickers candy bar — he won’t eat a Milky Way — blissfully unaware of his near-demise, a fate averted by lawmakers and thousands of fans online.
Last summer, the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife said Pete and other native deer and moose at a game preserve shouldn’t be mixing with the farm-raised elk because of fears of tuberculosis or chronic wasting disease. The state said either the preserve would have to close or the animals would have to be put down.
Now Vermont’s favorite animal will be allowed to stay on the land near the U.S.-Canada border under a compromise fashioned by state lawmakers. The turnabout came after the 700-pound moose’s tale of woe went viral, prompting a “Save Pete the Moose” website, a Facebook page (more than 4,000 people “like this” as of Friday afternoon), about 10,000 YouTube views and a rally at Vermont’s statehouse.
“It’s the best I could’ve hoped for,” said David Lawrence, 74, who nursed Pete to health and tends to him at the Big Rack Ridge preserve.
